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Tuesday, 8 December 2015

My new and improved website www.tedpolhemus.com now has a photo gallery for my own photos from the 70s, 80s and 90s (which I'm in the process of scanning, from film). New albums will be added about once a month so keep an eye on 'Ted's Galleries'.

There's also a guest gallery which currently features 'Belen Asad's Buenos Aires'

Auspicious moments. The art of being at the right place at the right
time. Just hanging around. Looking sharp. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Doing nothing in particular. Making history. Expanded and updated, this new
edition of the book on the subject of streetstyle takes this vital, always
exciting aspect of popular culture from its origins in the mid-20th century
right into today's 21st century supermarket of style.

More than just a
history of streetstyle, Ted Polhemus' now updated classic shows how what we wore
always pin-pointed the spirit and essence of each era.

Since it's launch of 2010, Street Style has continued to
make tracks as one of the most influential fashion books over the last decade. A
one of a kind journey though the youth tribes and styles that paved the way for
the fashion designs and nuances of the modern day.

Saturday, 12 April 2014

This diagram is a 4 page fold-out in the new, updated PYMCA (Photography Youth Music Culture Archive) edition of my book Streetstyle. If
you want a copy of the book go to STREETSTYLEBY TED POLHEMUS ON AMAZON.COM

Or
you can get Streetstyle and much more – images, research, magazine, books, etc.
- at http://pymca.com/

If you can't get a copy of Streetstyle but would really appreciate a higher res version of this diagram which would allow you to click to enlarge so you can explore in more detail all the interconnections email me (Ted Polhemus) using any of the contacts in my website > http://www.tedpolhemus.com/main_homepage461.html

Saturday, 22 March 2014

HERE'S A TASTER OF AN INTERVIEW WITH ME FOR THE ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY, SAN FRANCISCO - THE LINK FOR THE REST OF IT IS BELOW . . .

Keanan Duffty: What advise would you give to students who are looking for a career is trend research?

Ted Polhemus: Once upon a time there was one key trend (Dior’s New Look in 1947, Mary Quant’s mini in 1964) and pretty much everyone followed it. The same was true in, for example, kitchen or car design. The trend researcher’s job was simple but precarious. Of course in, say, the 50s there were subcultures, which ignored the mainstream trend and went off in their own direction. But who cared? Now we live in an age of unprecedented choice. So the trend researcher’s task is to ignore a futile search for the look and instead celebrate the extraordinary variety of looks and styles on offer. Even more complicated, everything today is in the mix (how different styles and looks are put together in one presentation of self or one living room). Complicated, but exciting.

The other complication today is that generations of journalists, photographers and cool hunters (how could anyone even remotely cool call themselves a ‘cool hunters’) have exhausted the traditional trend hotspots. And so many cities like London and NY are just too expensive creatively innovative: how could a young penniless artist find a studio to work in in today’s London? Where could today’s equivalent of, say, The Ramones find somewhere cheap to practice in today’s NYC? No, today’s trend researcher needs to keep an eye on what’s going on in all the world’s seemingly unhip cities. Thankfully, there is this thing called the Internet. When people ask me ‘What’s the next BIG THING’? I say the next BIG THING is that never ever again will there be a single NEXT BIG THING.

Don't
own a Kindle? Me neither. No problem.
Download a free Kindle reader for PC, Mac, Android, iPad, etc. Works really
well on my PC. When you download a Kindle book it flies straight into your
Kindle Reader to form part of your library.

Yes we all love real paper books but where a printed book is
hard to get, too pricy or you need to read something immediately, Kindle could
be the answer. And every day there are thousands of Kindle books given away free.
For a free Kindle reader go to >>>

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Is 'youth culture' an out-dated myth? What! Here's this boring old fart baby boomer Ted Polhemus, now that he's old and past it, saying that youth culture is now an out-dated fiction.

Here's the key idea . . . in the 50s and 60s the baby boom generation came to define themselves largely by how old you were. With the result that even now at 60+ the old boomers can't seem to grow up - they still think they are 'youth'. The suggestion here is that those who are young today tend to be less ageist - defining 'People Like Us' by lifestyle choices rather then what year you were born. What do you think? Are you someone who likes this kind of music, that kind of sport, who cares about social and environmental issues, who likes this kind of food and wears that kind of clothes . . . or are you defined by being a member of Gen X, Y, Z??? Is age still a critical factor in defining who you are? Check out Ted Polhemus' ideas at Pop Anthropology - Hot Buttered Humanity

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Fire up
your Kindle - the Kindle edition of my book BOOM! - a Baby Boomer
Memoir 1947-2022 now contains 125+ recently updated links to film
trailers, music tracks and historic film clips from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

An entirely new way of reading a book, the Kindle edition of
BOOM! makes it possible to leap from, say, a discussion of Marlon Brando in The Wild One to the
original 1953 trailer for that sensational film.

'What
are you rebelling against?'

‘Wha ya got?’

Or, when considering the roots of Rock 'n' Roll you can be
listening to Roy Brown's 'Good Rockin Tonight'
or watch Little Eva doing 'The Loco-motion'.
The Baby Boomers were the first generation to grow up with TV and, naturally,
BOOM! provides clips from I Love Lucy or American Bandstand to Tony
Soprano and Don Draper.

Don't
own a Kindle? Me neither. No problem. Download a free Kindle reader for
PC, Mac, Android, iPad, etc. Works really well on my PC. When you download a
Kindle book it flies straight into your Kindle Reader to form part of your
library.

Yes we all love real paper books but where a printed book is
hard to get, too pricy or you need to read something immediately, Kindle could
be the answer. And everyday there are thousands of Kindle books given away
free. For a free Kindle reader go to >>>

And/or get BOOM!
- a Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 in print form from amazon.com
[< click here] or from your local amazon [search BOOM! or Ted Polhemus]

Sex, drugs & Rock 'n' Roll

66 years in the making, BOOM! – A Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 weaves together
social history, personal memoir, pop culture, youth culture, politics, design,
TV, fiction, food, sex, drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll and a lot else besides to make
sense of what has happened to our world from WWII to the present day – and
beyond.

From Neptune, New Jersey to
Swinging London, Rhythm & Blues to Punk, the rise of suburbia to the
rebirth of the city, modernism to post-modernism, Playboy to ‘Make Love
Not War’, I Love Lucy to Mad Men, boom to bust, LSD to ecstasy,
Hipsters to, er, Hipsters.

400-pages – including lists
of all the most important music, films, TV and fiction for each decade, a
Timeline to enable you to do the time warp and a comprehensive index.

Sunday, 16 December 2012

For the finest culture soup have a taste of popanth.com which offers 'Popular anthropology for everyone. Exploring the familiar and the strange, demystifying and myth busting human culture, biology and behaviour in all times and places. Myths, music, art, archaeology, language, food, festivals, fun.'

This
new Kindle version of BOOM! - as well as the timewarping 1947-2013 Timeline -
has 125+ links to the best
films, music, TV and documentaries explored in this social
history of popular culture + 10 iconic images not available in the print
version.

*Don't
have a Kindle? Me too. No problemo: get a free Kindle For PC/Mac reader
download at Kindle
For PC or Kindle For Mac. Works great
and as well as books like BOOM! which you can buy cheaply and instantly and
then keep and read as you want there are lots of free books available at Amazon
every day.

>>>This free offer will only be available Thursday
Dec 6 + Friday Dec 7. The more people get the free download the higher I move
up the Amazon book charts – so please pass this information on.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

More BOOM! for your bucks > My new book BOOM! - A Baby Boomer Memoir, 1947-2022 is now available in an Amazon Kindle version >Buy
it at BOOM!

or check your local Amazon
site.

Only $6.00 this new Kindle
version of BOOM! - as well as the timewarping 1947-2013 Timeline as previously
- has 125+ links to the best films, music, TV and
documentaries explored in this social history of popular culture.

Don't have a Kindle? Me too.
No problemo: get a free Kindle For PC/Mac reader download at Kindle
For PC or Kindle For
Mac. Works great and as well as books like BOOM! which you can buy cheaply
and instantly and then keep and read as you want there are lots of free books
available at Amazon.

Friday, 4 May 2012

Monica Sklar has a Ph.D in Design-Apparel Studies from the University of Minnesota - her key interest is the 'socio-cultural and behavioral aspects of dress' and she's working on a new book about Punk which I'm looking forward to. Way back in 2007 she created the blog/website www.wornthrough.com which carries on as the go to site for anyone interested in looking at dress and appearance in a thought-provoking, creative way. And now there's a nice interview with me. Check it out at

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

'Street style anthropology' is what it says on the tin and that's what you get at http://urbanfieldnotes.blogspot.com - Philadelphia style. As told in the 'Sex', 'Drugs' and 'Rock 'N' Roll' chapters of my book BOOM! I spent the last of my teenage years in Philly while studying anthropology at Temple University. As well as documenting street style in Philly, Brent Luvaas' site also provides a fantastic listing of and links to street style blogs from around the world . . . and an interview with me. What more could you want?

Thursday, 19 April 2012

The dazzling and dynamic DJ duo Nisha and Amber who together make up Broken Hearts (surely the world's most stylish DJs) have invited me onto their weekly JazzFM radio show 'Peppermint Candy'. This goes out on JazzFM tonight April 19 between 6-7PM (GMT) but after that it is available whenever you want to listen on JazzFM.

Amber, Nisha and I will be talking about Zooties, the 40s, Jazz (natch), Baby Boomers, street style and, as always on this show, there's some great music including 'Swing' gems to get your foot tapping.

My new book BOOM! isn't available in bookshops so . . .

Ted Polhemus

Anthropologist, writer, photographer, lecturer and consultant, Ted Polhemus has been using popular culture as a window on the world for 30+ years. His books include: Streetstyle, Fashion & Anti-fashion, Bodystyles and Style Surfing.

Ted Polhemus believes that a true understanding of history and of the world we live in demands that we look deep into the seemingly superficial and we take seriously the seemingly frivolous. Fashion, style, design, pop music, body decoration - these are the things which give the vital clues to where we are at and where we might be going.